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DPR behind sale of petrol above N100 –Marketers

By on August 9, 2015

Independent petroleum marketers on Friday said Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, would continue to sell above N100 per litre in retail outlets because of the insincerity of officials of the Department of Petroleum Resources in monitoring activities at the major depots.

The DPR had, last week, sanctioned 23 major petroleum depots, including five from Calabar for selling PMS above the official price.

Despite the sanction, independent marketers are alleging that the product is still being sold for N100 per litre to them with the DPR feigning ignorance.

For instance, in Calabar, the Cross River State capital, retail outlets have been selling the product for between N105 and N120 per litre.

The Group Chairman of Prosperous Oil and Gas, Mr. Isinkaye Abiodun, flayed depot owners for constantly inflating the price of the product.

Abiodun said if the DPR was sincere with its monitoring, the fraudulent practice would not have been going on successfully.

He said, “Corruption in the petroleum industry cannot be eradicated immediately. Part of that corruption is responsible for why we cannot sell at independent retail outlets at the approved N87 per litre.

“The major importers of the product who are the same people collecting the subsidies are not being sincere. Apart from inflating the quantity of products they bring in, they also sell above the ex-depot price of N77.66 per litre to us.

“We buy at N100 per litre from them. It is for that reason that we sell above N100 per litre at retail outlets.

“The depot owners are constantly inflating the price and if the DPR is actually monitoring them very well as they claimed to be doing, we won’t be buying at that amount.”

A former chairman of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mr. Michael Udofia, also said major marketers were selling the product to them at N100 per litre, adding that an average retailer would need to sell for between N110 and N120 in order to break even.

“The major marketers have been selling the product to us for N100 per litre. So, we are forced to sell the product for between N11o and N120 for us to break even,” he said.

However, DPR’s Controller of Operations in charge of Cross River and Akwa Ibom states, Mr. Asuquo Antai, had after the sanction of 23 depots promised that, henceforth, the activities of the major importers would be monitored to ensure strict compliance.

 

[Punch]